A Newsletter of Humorous Writing

For May 30-June 5, 2019, a roundup of the week's finest prose humor and prose humor-related news.

Hello and welcome to A Newsletter of Humorous Writing, the email propaganda arm of the acclaimed humorous readings show, An Evening of Humorous Readings. This week we found out that if you take the text of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" and replace every instance of the word "heart" with the word "butt," and likewise replace every instance of the word "beat" with the word "fart," it doesn't always makes perfect sense, but it's pretty funny.
 

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What We Enjoyed This Week

Why I Decided to Get My MFA in Satisfying Videos by Sarah James (Points in Case) Here at Humorous Readings HQ (HRHQ) you know we love some good specifics--and this piece has very good specifics.

Under the Hudson Yards by Emily Flake (Weekly Humorist) If you told us there was actually a place in Hudson Yards where you could get a $19 panini filled with Eloi meat, we would believe you.

How to Draw a Horse by Emma Hunsinger (The New Yorker) It's hard enough just to write something that's funny. To write something that's thematically rich with well-developed metaphors, genuinely moving, AND funny? That's miraculous. This piece does it all spectacularly.
 

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An Old Favorite

Suggested Poses for Photo Booth Pictures by Ted Travelstead (McSweeney's) This right here is a master class in heightening on both a micro and macro level. Each individual beat sets up a scenario that builds, in just three sentences, to a surprising conclusion; and at the same time, each new scenario is a little bit stranger than the last, so the overall ambient weirdness level increases the further you read. The setting is familiar and relatable, which keeps things grounded. And the way it's framed, the piece is able to incorporate a wide variety of multifarious elements while still feeling cohesive. Plus, every time you remember that everything being described is meant to just be someone doing a pose in a photo booth it's good for a laugh.
 

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Updates From Your Hosts and Friends of the Show

James is teaching a workshop in July called, "Creating Parody." It's at the Magnet Training Center on July 13th and will cover different tools for creating parody, especially for print projects. There will be some writing exercises, some group brainstorming, and maybe, just maybe, some new friendships too.

Luke's workshop, "Where to Start with Short Humor Pieces", is sold out! Thanks so much to everyone who signed up. If you wanted to take the class but weren't able to this time, you can always send Luke an email to ask about having him coach a writers group of your own, or about one-on-one coaching!

And "You Can't Spell Love Without Cleveland, OH", the weirdo romantic comedy sketch show Luke co-wrote, is back for another performance on 6/17/19 at 9PM at the UCB Theater in Hell's Kitchen! The show is paired with Rumpleteaser, the musical improv group, so it's gonna be a blast all around (and is also very likely to sell out)!
 

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Other Humorous Writing News

Over at his website Hyoom, Alex Baia has assembled a helpful list of short humor writing pitfalls to watch out for. It's good advice!

And Paste Magazine has come out with another list of humor sites that are worth taking a look at. (You can check out the first list here.) There are some names you'll recognize from the newsletter, but also a number of outlets you might not have heard of. Check em out!
 

See you next week!

@brianagler, @lukevburns, & @jamesfolta

Did we miss a piece you loved? Did you love a piece we mentioned? Let us know! This is an experiment and we're hoping to continue to make it better and better. If you have any thoughts, notes, wishes, or dreams for this newsletter, please email us or respond to this email and tell us what the score is.